Unexpected Ingredients

When I came across these recipes, they both caught my eye because each one had a surprise ingredient. The addition of potato chips in the breadcrumb topping makes for a crispy, crunchy and salty crust on salmon. In the cauliflower & apple puree, the cauliflower is cooked in milk with some angel hair pasta until it is tender enough to puree. The pasta adds just enough starch to give the puree a velvety texture, creaminess and buttery flavor. Better yet, both of these dishes also happen to work well together as a main course.

The Broiled Salmon with Crisp Herbed Crust recipe is written for two servings, but can easily be doubled or tripled for a family. If you have leftovers, the Cauliflower & Apple Puree can be quickly transformed into a wonderful soup by simply reheating equal parts puree and stock (chicken or vegetable). Bring the soup to a gentle simmer and serve with a drizzle of white truffle oil.

Click here to download and print a two-page pdf of these recipes:

Broiled Salmon with Crisp Herbed Crust for Two
with Cauliflower & Apple Puree

box no. 15 | contents

• Acorn Squash
• Sweet Dumpling Squash
  
• Lettuce
• Cilantro
• Potatoes
• Sweet Potatoes
• Celeriac
• Onions
• Leeks
• Swiss Chard
• Broccoli
• Kohlrabi
• Cauliflower
  

My heart goes out to everyone at Angelic Organics who knew and loved Lora Krogman. Lora was involved in a tragic and fatal car accident at about 6:20 p.m., Friday, September 14, 2007; she was 31 years old. Lora’s valued responsibilities at the farm included keeping the bees, maintaining the flower beds, co-managing the biodynamic applications, managing human resources, making vegetable and fruit newsletters, hosting volunteer workers and guests, and assisting Farmer Bob.

I was lucky enough to meet Lora this August at the Learning Center Farm Dinner. She exuded kindness, patience and a great spirit. It saddens me that she is gone. Her family and friends are in my thoughts.

Click here to download a pdf of the Angelic Organics Farm News for box no. 15.

Book ’n Cook | Fresh Food Fast

This is one of my favorite recipes that I come back to time and again. It’s a relatively easy recipe to make. It uses two of the season’s most bountiful ingredients – leeks and potatoes. And, it’s one of those versatile dishes that you could serve for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner.

This recipe is adapted from one of the Winter menus featured in Peter Berley’s Fresh Food Fast: Delicious, Seasonal Vegetarian Meals in Under an Hour. This is a well organized, beautifully designed, vegetarian cookbook that provides 48 meals – twelve for each season – including recipes, shopping lists and a game plan to walk you step-by-step through each menu. The meals boast a preparation time of under an hour and utilize techniques and tools that the average cook will have in her repertoire. I highly recommend it. It’s one of my top “go-to” cookbooks when cooking with fresh, seasonal ingredients.

Click here to download and print a pdf of this recipe:

Leek and Potato Frittata
Adapted from
Fresh Food Fast by Peter Berley

Super Sunday

When I get behind in my shareholder box and the vegetables start piling up in the refrigerator, it’s time for what I like to call “Super Sunday”. This is the day when I buckle down and spend most of the day cooking, prepping for the week and using up as many items as I can. On this particular Sunday, I not only prepped for the week, but also started thinking ahead to the winter months when good, fresh produce is in short supply.

I’m not an experienced canner, so I freeze as much produce as I can to use in the winter months. There are a few tricks to freezing vegetables; make sure to research the proper way to freeze produce online. There are a number of websites the provide helpful information or you can download this free pdf.

Here’s my to-do list on Super Sunday:

• Make a triple batch of basil pesto to freeze in small containers
  
• Roast the sweet pumpkin and freeze to make Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Cayenne Pepper – make sure to blanch and freeze the seeds and guts, too
  
• Blanch, chop and freeze kale to make White Bean, Kale and Chorizo Soup
  
• Clean and separate broccoli florets; peel tough, outer layer from broccoli stem and slice into quarter-inch rounds
  
• Blanch and freeze broccoli florets and stems
  
• Clean and separate cauliflower florets to use during the week
• Slice, clean and drain leeks to use for dinner
  
• Wash and juice leftover beets, red cabbage and kale; mix with apple cider from the farmer’s market
• Wash and dry lettuce to have on hand throughout the week for salads
• Roast the eggplant and red peppers to make Eggplant Caviar; freeze extra roasted red peppers to use as a pizza topping
  
• Toast pita chips to serve with Eggplant Caviar
  

box no. 14 | contents

• Pie Pumpkin
• Delicata Squash
• Red Peppers
• Eggplant
• Lettuce
• Basil
• Oregano
• Potatoes
• Onions
• Leeks
• Red and Green Kale
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
  

Leeks resemble a giant green onion with their bright white stalk and dark green outer leaves. The leek is the mildest member of the onion family and brings a hint of both garlic and onion to the dishes they flavor. They’re very versatile and meld well with other ingredients such as potatoes in dishes such as soup, gratins or quiche. The only downside to leeks is they’re a relatively dirty vegetable and need to be cleaned well:

How to Clean Leeks (from Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Companion)

1. Trim off the roots and tough, dark green tops of the leaves. If the outer layer is wilted or discolored, peel it away and discard.
2. Quarter or halve the stalk lengthwise. If using the leek whole, leave the root end intact.
3. Rinse well under cold running water, separating the layers and rubbing the leaves to remove any silt between them.
4. If a recipe calls for sliced leeks, slice the white and lighter green parts crosswise.

Click here to download a pdf of the Angelic Organics Farm News for box no. 14.

Roasted Squash and Black Bean Quesadillas

I seem to be on a roasting kick – Roasted Squash Soup with Cayenne Pepper, Roasted Tomato Salsa and now Roasted Squash and Black Bean Quesadillas. Oven roasting vegetables brings out concentrated, sweet and caramelized flavors; it lends itself especially well to fall and winter vegetables like winter squash, root vegetables, or brassicas (cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cabbage). This is an easy, healthy vegetarian recipe that doesn’t require any special techniques or equipment. It packs a lot of flavor and the ooey, gooey filling is warm and comforting on a crisp fall night.

Serve these with sour cream, chopped fresh cilantro and Roasted Tomato Salsa.

Click here to download and print a pdf of this recipe:

Roasted Squash and Black Bean Quesadillas

Roasted Tomato Salsa

The tomatoes are one of the crops hit hard by the constant rains. In the last couple of boxes, the tomatoes haven’t looked too good – they have spots or bruises and always seem to be very close to going bad. So this week I wanted to use them quickly in a recipe that wouldn’t suffer from their lackluster appearance. By roasting and pureeing them in a salsa, all of the surface imperfections disappear and the flavors are more concentrated. This would also be a great recipe for the dead of winter or spring when grocery store tomatoes aren’t at their peak; you can use standard Roma tomatoes and coax more flavor out by roasting them with garlic, onions and peppers.

Serve this with chips or on the side with Roasted Squash and Black Bean Quesadillas.

Click here to download and print a pdf of this recipe:

Roasted Tomato Salsa

box no. 13 | contents

• Acorn Squash
• Sweet Dumpling Squash
  
• Tomatoes
• Hot Peppers
  
• Sweet Peppers
• Lettuce
• Mesclun Mix
• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Potatoes
• Onions
• Cilantro

Sometimes there are items in my box that I just can’t identify. Last week, I mistakenly said that we received a red kuri, when in fact, it was an acorn squash. There are a wide variety of cooking greens that all look the same to me. And when the small peppers start arriving in the box, those are ones that I make sure I get right – a small, orange habañero vs. a small, red sweet pepper is a big difference. But I’m slowly learning how to identify the different varieties of vegetables and it helps that a lot of them are the same as last year.

There is a great book that I often refer to when I’m in a bind. Ingredients is a visual resource of not just vegetables, but fruits, grains, beans, meat, fish and more. So when a recipe calls for maccheroni pasta or lupin beans, I can quickly look it up and see exactly what I’m shopping for. Unfortunately, the book is no longer in print, but you can order it through Amazon Marketplace or search for it at any used book store.

Click here to download a pdf of the Angelic Organics Farm News for box no. 13.

Roasted Squash Soup with Cayenne Pepper

Summer is officially over – Labor Day has come and gone, the cicadas are chirping and we’re getting winter squash in our boxes. The latter half of the season – and especially the winter share boxes – are my favorites. I’m kicking off the early fall season with a roasted squash soup that gets a little kick from the addition of some cayenne pepper. The color is stunning and the flavors are smooth and comforting.

You can use any type of squash or pumpkin in this recipe. I used both the Red Kuri and Sweet Dumpling squash to make a double batch of soup so that I had leftovers to freeze. If you’re not the spicy-type, you can omit the cayenne all together, but it does add a nice contrast to the buttery, rich flavor of the squash.

Click here to download and print a pdf of this recipe:

Roasted Squash Soup with Cayenne Pepper

Book ’n Cook | Farmer John’s Cookbook

For all of you Angelic Organic shareholders, you don’t need me to recommend this one! Last season, all shareholders received a copy of Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables. It’s a great resource for information on storing and cooking the vegetables that grow on the Angelic Organic farm as well as a wealth of seasonal recipes organized by vegetable and growing season. But more importantly, it’s a book with stories and anecdotes that give you insight into the people and the process that gets your box of veggies from the ground to your home every week.

I’m not usually a fan of veggie burgers, but this week’s newsletter mentioned a “beet burger” recipe in Farmer John’s cookbook and I was intrigued. This recipe is my kind of veggie burger – it’s actually made out of vegetables! And there’s some sunflowers and sesame seeds thrown in for texture and protein. I strayed a bit from the original recipe in the book, but overall it’s a great vegetarian recipe with a lot of flavor and a lot of room for experimentation with toppings and add-ins (shown here with mayonnaise and avocado). Next time I make them, I’m going to try using smoked cheddar cheese to add another flavor dimension and give the burgers more of a barbequed, “meaty” flavor.

J.NOELLE NOTES

• I shaped my burgers into smaller patties (2.5” in diameter) and ended up with 18 burgers. But the smaller patties require smaller buns, so I used a 2.5” circle cutter to cut out whole wheat bread rounds and toasted them. If you stick with the original recipe, you can use standard regular or whole wheat buns. The smaller patties cooked for the same amount of time – 20 minutes.
  
• I added 1 teaspoon of kosher salt to the recipe (1/2 teaspoon if you’re using table salt) and sprinkled the patties with additional salt and a crack of fresh pepper before they went into the oven.
• I whisked together the eggs, oil, flour, soy sauce, garlic, cayenne pepper and salt to make a sauce, which I then worked into the other ingredients. It made mixing easier and ensured that all of the flavors of the sauce were evenly distributed.
  
• And one last tip: I wore disposable kitchen gloves while mixing and forming the patties. They’re indispensable when working with beets but are also helpful to have in the kitchen for other messy jobs or if you’re working with raw meat and chicken. You can find them at any kitchen and restaurant supply store.
  

Click here to download and print a pdf of this recipe:

Baked Beet-and-Carrot Burgers
Copyright:
Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables

box no. 12 | contents

• Red Kuri Squash
• Sweet Dumpling Squash
  
• Tomatoes
• Watermelon
  
• Green Peppers
• Red and Green Cabbage
• Beets
• Carrots
• Leek
• Garlic
• Onions
• Kale
• Basil

Twelve down, twelve to go…

Box no. 12 marks the halfway point of 24 Boxes. So far, so good. I’ve had a lot of fun preparing posts and recipes. Last week, Blogger featured us on their “Blogs of Note” list which garnered a surprising amount of hits and a lot of new readers.

The constant rain that we’ve been experiencing in the Chicagoland area has taken it’s toll on some of the crops at the farm. The average rainfall in Rockford, Illinois during the month of August is 4.21 inches; August 2007 dropped a total of 13.65 inches of rain! But that’s part of subscribing to a Community Supported Agriculture program – you have to take the good with the bad. Overall, Angelic Organics is predicting a good fall and winter share of potatoes, winter squash, fall brassicas, sweet potatoes, popcorn and beets. But for now, we’re still enjoying the fruits of summer – tomatoes, melons, carrots and basil – and looking forward to some dryer weather so the crops (and the farmers) can recover.

Click here to download a pdf of the Angelic Organics Farm News for box no. 12.

Collecting | Vintage Cookbooks

I started collecting vintage cookbooks about three years ago, but not for the recipes – for the food photography. Food photography has come a long way since the 60’s and 70’s. But you can’t blame the nasty-looking food entirely on the pictures – there were also a lot of recipes that make you want to laugh and puke at the same time. Some of my favorite “delicacies” and “luxuries” include Weiner Winner Pizza, Molded Pork Loaf (shown below with the caption Cool Molded Pork Loaf is an appetizing work of art.), Danish Garden Salad (the white loaf shown below) and Spicy Liverwurst-Ham Nibblers. I personally think of Jello as a dessert food, but some of the best savory food photography and recipes in my collection come from the pages of my vintage Jello cookbooks. So, a toast to my readers: “May all of your culinary endeavors be more appetizing than this.”

Family Recipe | Bacon Buns

Few food items are so good that they can actually be used as currency, but Bacon Buns are one of those rare exceptions. From the outside, they look like ordinary rolls. But the surprise is on the inside – a savory filling of bacon, ham and onion tucked inside a pillowy, soft dough. The recipe originates from Lithuania, where they call the buns “lasineciai”. There was never any written recipe – it only existed in the memories of Grandmothers and Great Aunts in our family. Luckily, someone finally followed Mrs. Sobut while she was making bacon buns and recorded her every move and measure. From that original recipe, I’ve refined and revised so that we can all create these magical buns in our kitchen.

Bacon Buns taste best fresh from the oven, but the next best thing for day-old buns is a quick zap in the microwave (wrapped in a paper towel) for 12-seconds.

Click here to download and print a pdf of this recipe:

Double-Stuffed Bacon Buns

box no. 11 | contents

• Tomato Soup Shooters with Cheddar Grilled Cheese Crouton
• Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Brown Butter & Fried Sage
• Mini Turkey Sandwich with Bacon & Pickled Cherry Mayo
  
• Potato Pancakes with Garlic Thyme Salt & Sriracha Aioli
• Sweet Corn & River Valley Shiitake Fritters
  
• Mini Pork Confit Sandwiches with Pickled Jalapeño & Onion Slaw
• Chocolate Chip Cookie & Ice Cold Organic Milk Shooters
• Mini Cupcakes (Carrot Cake, Banana Cake, and Sour Cream Cake)
  

If you’re reading this list, thinking “this doesn’t look at all like what I got in my box”, you’re very perceptive! This is only a sampling of the items on the menu for today at my wedding. So needless to say, I did not pick up our box this morning (in fact, I’m not even writing this in real time – I “pre-posted” the week before). Luckily, our neighbors are picking up box no. 11 and taking Angelic Organics for a test drive. Good luck KC and Matt.

There won’t be any vegetable recipe posts this week (no ingredients, no posts) but I will be reposting a couple of my favorites from my very first (and now retired) blog, J.Noelle Cooks. Stay tuned this week for a fantastic family recipe and a peek into a special part of my cookbook collection.

And, if you’re wondering who is making all of this wonderful food, it’s my good friends at Sunday Dinner (the talented chefs who are also behind the Eat Green Foods prepared gourmet food line).

I’m off to say my “I dos”!

Click here to download a pdf of the Angelic Organics Farm News for box no. 11.

Stuffed Tomatoes Two Ways

Tomatoes are one of those ingredients that people either love or hate. Or sometimes a person loves cooked tomatoes and hates raw; while someone else is exactly the opposite. The great thing about tomatoes is that they’re so versatile. So whether you love them straight from the garden or slow roasted, there’s a recipe here for you.

The Stuffed Tomatoes with Goat Cheese, Olives and Oregano is a warm, comforting side dish with bold flavors. On the flip side, the Stuffed Tomatoes with Chilled Corn and Crab Salad is refreshing and cool with bright, clean flavors of summer.

Click here to download and print pdfs of these recipes:

Stuffed Tomatoes Two Ways:
with Goat Cheese, Olives and Oregano
with Chilled Corn and Crab Salad

box no. 10 | contents

• Celery
• Fennel
• Sweet Peppers
• Hot Pepper
  
• Tomatoes
• Sweet Corn
• Eggplant
• Cucumbers
• Melon
• Garlic
• Red Onions
• Lettuce
• Swiss Chard
• Parsley
  

Energy Efficient Box Transport

When we’re at the height of vegetable season and our boxes are brimming with corn, tomatoes, and melons, the boxes can get pretty heavy. And if you subscribe to the fruit share, then you’ve got double the load every two weeks. When I first lived in the city, I didn’t have a car and I relied on the standard folding, metal cart for grocery transportation. It occurred to me a few weeks ago that the vegetable box would probably fit in that old cart, so I dug it out from storage and resurrected it as the CSA Transport System (CSATS). I no longer need a second person to help haul the box home and I’m never tempted to drive.

If you’re within walking distance of your drop site, consider investing in a grocery cart. It not only saves fossil fuel energy if you normally drive to pick up your box, but it also saves physical energy if you’re used to walking it home the old-fashioned way. And, it keeps that waxy box coating off your favorite t-shirt!

Click here to download a pdf of the Angelic Organics Farm News for box no. 10.

Asian Steak Wraps

I tackled the sweet recipe for Anise Hyssop, and now on to the savory: Asian Steak Wraps. I built this recipe from the “ground up” – I had an idea in mind and did my best to execute it. I started with the anise hyssop. I felt that the flavor would lend itself well to a marinade to contrast with a stronger flavor like steak. I started brainstorming ideas and developed a plan to create a marinade with an Asian flair that used the anise hyssop (leaves only), Chinese 5-spice powder and ginger. Since the anise hyssop has a slightly licorice taste, I decided to caramelize both onions and fennel, since fennel also has a licorice flavor. Next, I wanted a bright, fresh salsa or slaw to put in the wrap, so I put together carrots, red pepper, cabbage and cilantro and tossed it with a sweet & sour vinaigrette. The results were great – slightly sweet from the caramelized onion and fennel mixture as well as the natural caramelization that occurs when you grill meat. Pair that with a sweet & sour slaw to carry through the sweetness, but add a kick of acidity, and you’ve got yourself a really flavorful wrap.

I have to admit, it’s still a struggle to find uses for the anise hyssop, but I feel pretty good about what I’ve accomplished this week. At least it didn’t end up in the trash!

Note: if you’re carb-conscious, you could forgo the flour tortilla and wrap the ingredients in 2 to 3 layers of large lettuce leaves instead.

Click here to download and print a pdf of this recipe:

Asian Steak Wraps

Buttery Shortbread with Anise Hyssop

When searching for recipes to use my Anise Hyssop, most of the results were for sweet treats rather than savory. I decided to take a traditional shortbread recipe and add the anise hyssop for flavor. I added 2 tablespoons of the small, purple florets (the tiny ones that get all over your counter whenever you move the bunch) along with the flour, sugar and salt. The anise hyssop added a mild, licorice- and mint-like flavor – faintly herbal and flowery. If you wanted a more intense flavor, you could add as much as 3 to 4 tablespoons, depending on how strong you prefer the taste.

The shortbread recipe that I used was downloaded from CooksIllustrated.com. The website requires a membership in order to access all of the content ($24.95 per year or $19.95 per year for magazine subscribers). Your membership allows you to access 14+ years of Cook’s Illustrated recipes, kitchen equipment ratings, food tasting results, kitchen tips and step-by-step instructions for basic cooking techniques. They also have an entire section of menus ranging from Holiday & Events to Weeknight or Grilling. The menus include all of the recipes, shopping lists, techniques and tips. If you cook a lot – and are a fan of Cook’s Illustrated – I think this is a great investment. I have quite a few back issues of the magazine, but when I’m looking for a specific recipe, it’s much easier and faster to locate it online. It is so convenient to have all of this information at your fingertips. And, better yet, it’s 100% advertising free.

Click here to download and print a pdf of this recipe:

Buttery Shortbread

BLT Sandwiches with Homemade Basil Mayonnaise

As many of you already know, I love bacon. Most people I know love bacon*. When my friend Diana was in town visiting from San Francisco, we decided to make t-shirts that declared our love for bacon. Here’s a picture of Diana wearing one of our awesome t-shirts:

And now that we’ve reached the time of year when tomatoes actually taste like tomatoes, BLT sandwiches are at their peak. With the addition of homemade basil mayonnaise – which is really simple and easy to make if you have a food processor – your standard BLT gets kicked up a notch, as Emeril would say.

*Even vegetarians can enjoy bacon and BLTs by substituting “facon” (fake, soy-based bacon) for the real deal.

Click here to download and print a pdf of this recipe:

Homemade Basil Mayonnaise
Adapted from
Martha Stewart’s Hors d’Oeuvres Handbook
by Martha Stewart

box no. 09 | contents

• Fennel
• Sweet Peppers
• Tomatoes
• Sweet Corn
• Eggplant
• Summer Squash
• Cucumbers
• Honeydew
• Sweet Onions
• Lettuce
• Carrots
• Kale
• Anise Hyssop
  

I have a confession to make: I have never used my Anise Hyssop. I don’t know how other shareholders feel, but I put pressure on myself to use everything from the box, every week. So I always feel guilty when I open the box and see the bunch of anise hyssop, knowing that it will sit in the refrigerator, unused, until I have the guts to shamefully throw it away.

Once or twice, I’ve consoled myself by putting the pretty bunch of herbs in a Ball jar with some water and making use of it as a nice arrangement on the kitchen counter. But it ultimately meets the same fate: in the garbage at the end of the week.

This week I am bound and determined to use it. In fact, I’m so determined that I took an extra bunch from the swap box. I’ll keep you posted on my progress and hopefully share some recipes for using anise hyssop.

Click here to download a pdf of the Angelic Organics Farm News for box no. 09.